A second species of the pill millipede genus Nearctomeris Wesener, 2012 (Diplopoda, Glomerida) from the Great Smoky Mountains, USA

By

Recuero, Ernesto
Caterino, Michael S. (Michael Stephen), 1969-

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2023

Original Publication

ZooKeys

Volume

1166

Pages

333--349

Subjects

Distribution , DNA barcoding , Glomeridae , integrative taxonomy , Nearctic , Onomeris , time-calibrated phylogeny

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1166.103516

 

Abstract

We describe a second species of Nearctomeris Wesener, 2012, a genus of pill millipede endemic to the southern Appalachians, based on morphological and molecular evidence. The fauna of Glomerida in America is characterized by its low diversity, and Nearctomeris smokysp. nov. is only the fifth species of the order known from the eastern United States. Our phylogenetic analyses based on COI sequences recover a tentatively monophyletic lineage including both eastern American genera Onomeris Cook, 1896 and Nearctomeris, with a common ancestor in the Late Cretaceous to Mid Eocene and extant diversity within genera dating back to the Miocene. Our results suggest that the observed low diversity of the group in the eastern US is likely caused by extinction events, but it is also possible that new species are yet to be found. We provide new records for Nearctomeris inexpectata Wesener, 2012, Onomeris underwoodi Cook, 1896 and O. australora Hoffman, 1950; the latter is here reported for the first time from South Carolina. We also present DNA barcoding data for all species of Glomerida present in the US that are not yet publicly available.